UN rights chief Volker Turk says Israeli settler violence dangers eliminating any risk of building a Palestinian state.
Israeli settlements within the occupied Palestinian territories have expanded by a document quantity and danger eliminating any sensible risk of a Palestinian state, the United Nations rights chief warns.
The expansion of Israeli settlements quantities to the switch by Israel of its personal civilian inhabitants into occupied territories, which is a battle crime, UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk mentioned on Friday.
The worldwide neighborhood has lengthy considered Israeli settlements as a violation of worldwide legislation and a hindrance to Palestinian statehood.
America mentioned final month that the settlements had been “inconsistent” with worldwide legislation after Israel introduced new housing plans within the occupied West Financial institution.
Turk’s report discovered that the Israeli authorities’s insurance policies “appear aligned, to an unprecedented extent, with the goals of the Israeli settler movement to expand long-term control over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to steadily integrate this occupied territory into the State of Israel”.
“Settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state,” Turk mentioned in an announcement that accompanied a 16-page report in regards to the progress in unlawful Israeli housing items.
The report, based mostly on the UN’s personal monitoring in addition to different sources, documented 24,300 new Israeli housing items within the occupied West Financial institution throughout a one-year interval by to the tip of October, which it mentioned was the best since monitoring started in 2017.
It additionally mentioned there had been a dramatic improve within the depth, severity and regularity of each Israeli settler and state violence in opposition to Palestinians within the occupied West Financial institution, significantly since Hamas’s October 7 assaults on southern Israel, which triggered the present battle within the Gaza Strip.
Since then, greater than 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli safety forces or by settlers, the report mentioned.
It moreover pointed to compelled evictions, non-issuance of constructing permits, house demolitions and restrictions on motion imposed on Palestinians.
The US, Britain and France have imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers for acts of violence and incitement in opposition to Palestinians dwelling within the West Financial institution in current weeks.
Israel approves new settlements
Israel’s settlement-planning authority on Wednesday greenlit permits for practically 3,500 new housing items in occupied Palestinian territory, the primary such approvals since Israel’s battle on Gaza started final 12 months. The approval sparked widespread condemnation from a number of nations, together with Israel’s allies.
The Israeli plans to construct settler properties in Maale Adumim, Efrat and Kedar flew “in the face of international law”, Turk mentioned.
Jordan’s Ministry of International Affairs mentioned the settlements had been unilateral and unlawful measures that violate worldwide legislation whereas Qatar mentioned such strikes “pose a serious threat to international efforts aimed at implementing the two-state solution and hinder the resumption of the peace process”.
Germany requested Israel to withdraw the plans, which it known as “a serious violation of international law”.
“The enemies try to harm and weaken us, but we will continue to build and be built up in this land,” far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich mentioned on X.
Smotrich mentioned the development provides to the 18,515 housing items in unlawful settlements authorized previously 12 months.
The UN’s particular coordinator for the Center East peace course of, Tor Wennesland, mentioned all settlements had been “illegal under international law” and a “driver of conflict” within the West Financial institution.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – two Arab nations that normalised relations with Israel as a part of the US-mediated Abraham Accords – additionally condemned Israel’s plans.
Israel began constructing settlements after capturing the West Financial institution, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip within the 1967 Six-Day Struggle. It’s unlawful beneath worldwide legislation for Israel to ascertain settlements in these Palestinian territories.